Verification
by oxymoronloverchronicles
Summary: In which Sakura is determined to stay away from Uchiha police nins and Sasuke is determined to court a pink haired medic whether she likes it or not. AU, SasuSaku, based on carrinth's spectacular fanart of the same name.


**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Based off of **carrinth**'s SasuSaku fanart Verification, details and certain aspects borrowed with permission. Link to fanart in author's note below. This is set in an alternate reality, that is, minus the Uchiha massacre and including certain variations on the rank promotion exams and team system, all of which is explained.

Dedicated to **carrinth**: Thank you for letting me associate this with your wonderful art.

* * *

It all began when Haruno Sakura made the mistake of taking far too many shifts at the hospital.

At the time, it had made complete sense – the most practical decision to be made. The hospital was overflowing with patients, there was a shortage of doctors. _Of course there was_, Sakura had thought viciously as she drained a lung of fluid and stitched its damaged tissues together, _no one wanted to be a medic nin. Everyone wanted to be an ANBU or a combact nin or tactician. No one wanted to mend bones or stitch skin back together or replenish blood. _

To the pink haired girl who had been trained by the Hokage (a medic nin and one of the best combatants) the trend made no sense. She was secure enough to know that being important off the field didn't mean that she was no use on it - something that every person who had been on the receiving end of her punches or had been witness to one of her ground breaking training sessions would attest to.

Under Tsunade's guidance, after years of training that commenced when she was thirteen, Sakura had risen to become one of the hospitals most talented medic nins. People who saw her work had on occasion compared her prowess to that of her mentor, the striking similarity in their temperaments and their talent making her stand out almost as much as her vibrant hair did.

The praise made Sakura glow with pride, and intensified her determination to live up to it. It was what she had wanted ever since she learned about medic nins in the Ninja Academy. When they were twelve and asked to choose which nin-occupation they wanted to specialize in, Sakura hadn't hesitated a second before signing up under Shizune, who taught the medic aspirants. Ino had called her crazy; having signed up for interrogation because of her clan's speciality in the field, the Yamanaka had not been shy about telling her best friend what she thought of her decision to spend all her time working with mortally ill, half dead, possibly contagious people.

Sakura hadn't cared then, and at the age of twenty six, she still couldn't muster up the effort to. She knew she was helping, she knew she was irreplacable, and the feeling couldn't be taken away from her at any cost.

* * *

Sighing, but pleased with how quick the surgery was, Sakura tugged her rubber gloves off and washed her hands.

Drying them carefully, she paused for a minute to try and remember where she had kept her usual chakra enhancing gloves when they were dangled in front of her eyes.

'Looking for these?'

Her protegee and student intern, Ayako smiled at her.

Sakura grinned and took the gloves. 'How's the patient doing?'

'Great. He's responding really well to your chakra's intrusion.'

'Did you see what I meant about finding the correct pathways? You have to be very careful about not forcing your way in, or the patient's chakra will repel yours and the damage will increase.'

She tugged her gloves on as she spoke, Ayako nodded, her lower lip puffy because of how often she chewed on it. The girl with her untidy dishwater blonde hair followed her as they exited the ICU, and Sakura had to admit to herself that she enjoyed having the younger medic idolise her in that respectfully awed manner. It made her that more aware of how far she had come from being the awkward girl she used to be, uncertain, second guessing her abilities.

The two of them went into her office, with Ayako's tiny desk in one corner. Sakura went through some paperwork, occasionally instructing her intern about one case or another until Ayako returned from a quick errand to the head medic, looking slightly apprehensive.

'Sakura sama?'

'What is it, Ayako?'

'Er...your surgery patient's family wants to ask you some questions. Also, er...Hokage sama wants to meet you in her office. She just sent a message.'

Sakura's brow creased and the intern looked at her warily. Although very fond of her boss, she was also aware that she could be very, very...volatile when ordered to do something she didn't want to, even if it was by someone she held in high regard.

'Hm. Alright, well, you talk to the patient's family, you were there too, and I think you're capable enough for that now. I'll go meet shishou when I'm done with my rounds.'

Ayako started chewing her bottom lip once again, wishing she wasn't the one who had to deliver these messages. 'Er, Hokage sama's message was very urgent...'

'After my rounds, Ayako,' Sakura said again, getting up and stretching to work out the kinks in her back.

'She kind of cancelled all your rounds and threatened to put you on probation until you go meet her.'

'WHAT?'

Knowing it would be unworthy of her to hide, Ayako settled on yanking the end of her braid in trepidition. 'That's what Mai san said,' she said, hoping that her idol would go yell at the Department Head instead. She wasn't a coward, by any means, but being Sakura's protegee, she had first hand knowledge of the extent of damage caused by Sakura's fists.

'Alright, then.' Sakura said, gritting her teeth. She had an inkling she knew what the meeting with her former teacher was going to be about, and she needed to work out an excuse in the little time she had left before the Godaime Hokage seized the opportunity to abandon her much disliked paperwork and stomped over to give her an earful.

Looking up from the spot she had been glaring into her desk, Sakura nodded at Ayako, who was regarding her with apprehension.

'Fine. You go talk to the patient's family, say he's fine, and should be able to go home in a week. Then go do my rounds for me. I want your observations listed and on my desk as quick as possible. Remember to give Yure san a quick burst of chakra through the lower muscles of his back if it hurts – he won't tell you, so prod him in the side while talking and you'll know he's lying. Lee san's probably overexerted himself again, so tell him off and warn him that I will deal with him if he doesn't rest. Tenten will come for her check up, and if Neji starts fretting and asking if his baby's alright, say he won't find out what the sex is if he doesn't keep quiet.'

Pausing, she eyed her intern, whose eyes had glazed over with the effort to commit her orders to memory.

'Will you remember all that?'

Ayako continued to stare at the ceiling and Sakura knew she was filing everything away until she met her gaze, nodding. 'Yes, Sakura sama.'

'Good.' She shook her hair out of the pony tail she kept it in while working, and used the spare brush in her desk to neaten it. The pink strands fell a little beyond her shoulders, practical and yet well cut. Ayako handed her the forehead protector she had been given to polish in addition to sharpening and shining her mentor's weapons (Sakura wasn't _entirely_ above taking advantage of her protegee's services) and she tied it neatly around her head before exiting through the window in her office.

As usual, travelling via rooftop brought her to the Hokage's office faster than usual, and Sakura realised that she still hadn't found an acceptable excuse, because experience had taught her that these forced meeting were always about the same thing.

**'Chakra exertion.'**

Sakura winced as the words were snapped out from between her teacher's gritted teeth.

'I can explain, shishou - '

'Can you? Well, go ahead, I'm waiting.'

Tsunade sat back in her chair, eyeing Sakura balefully through her honey brown eyes. She had been having a terrible day, consisting mostly of more and more paperwork and to add to that, Shizune had found the cubby hole where she usually hid her emergency bottles of sake and it was now empty. Granted, there had been a few chances to throw some figurines (recent gifts from Ame) at a genin team that had managed to uproot a councilmember's strawberry garden when on a D-rank mission to find the now notorious Tora, but it hadn't helped much.

Sakura sighed. _It was better to just take the yelling and get it over with_, she decided, _that way I could get back to work quickly. _

'I'm sorry, Tsunade shishou,' she mumbled. 'It won't happen again.'

'Of course it will,' Tsunade snorted imperiously. 'The hospital's understaffed, and we both know it. That doesn't mean you need to take all the extra work for yourself. It'll be nothing short of fucking embarrassing if one of the best medics needs to check herself in for overexhaustion of chakra. You should know better, Sakura.'

'I'm sorry, shishou.'

'You should be, silly girl,' Tsunade said, not unkindly. 'Now, I want you to start being realistic about how much you're capable of handling at a time. You have interns for a reason, you need to start trusting them to handle the small things. And I don't only mean that Ayako girl. You may have taken a shine to her, but there are a whole bunch of the morons sitting around there who should be working for their paychecks.'

'Yes, shishou.'

'Now, go home and sleep.'

Sakura's respectfuly bowed head snapped up. 'What? But, Tsunade sama - !'

She fell silent when she saw the look on the Godaime's face. Like Ayako, she wasn't stupid enough to provoke her mentor when there were ample things at hand's reach that could be used as ammunition. The figurines from Ame had been replaced by a very ugly glass vase.

'Go home. Have a long bath, eat a big dinner, sleep, and there's no need to show up at work tomorrow unless your chakra reserves are fully replenished. Do you understand me?'

Another sigh. 'Yes, Tsunade sama.'

'Good. Oi! Get in here!'

Startled when Tsunade yelled the last part, Sakura turned around when the door to the office opened. Once she saw who had entered, she turned around to glare at her mentor.

'Shishou, there was really no need for this! I'm not a child - '

'Its one of my duties as future Hokage to make sure that the citizens of Konoha are getting enough rest, you know. Specially if they're beautiful and very important to the hospital.' Namikaze Naruto grinned at her, despite receiving a scowl from the pink haired medic.

Tsunade let out a noise that was halfway between a snort of derision and a laugh. 'Yes, well, he's going your way anyhow. He's got orders to make sure you don't run off to the hospital after this.'

Naruto shrugged, hands in his orange pants. 'Baa-chan doesn't trust you much.'

'So I see.' Sakura looked mutinous. She had been planning on doing exactly what Tsunade thought she would, so she couldn't really blame her mentor.

'This'll be great, Sakura chan. We haven't been able to spend much time lately. I need to tell you about how Tou san and Baachan have been trying to get me to give up becoming Hokage.'

'That is not true,' Tsunade corrected him, rolling her eyes. 'Minato and I are just trying to train you.'

'That's what you're calling it,' Naruto brushed off her words imperiously, sniffing a little and making Sakura grin. 'Tou san keeps going on and on about how I won't like it, and how he finds it more fulfilling working at the Academy anyway...'

'Your father has the right idea,' Tsunade said drily, now pulling yet another scroll open. 'If you had any sense, you'd back out now. Unfortunately, Kushina encourages your madness.'

'Speaking of whom,' Naruto spun on his heel to face Sakura, 'Kaa chan says you can come over for dinner whenever you like. She knows your parents' place is on the other side of town, so really, you could just come to ours. I'll even warn you in case she's actually cooking instead of getting food from Ichiraku's or some onigiri or something like usual.'

'Alright, alright, alright!' Tsunade thumped her hand on her desk and the well built oak piece groaned in protest. 'Get out and socialize. I have work to do!'

Naruto and Sakura spared her quick farewells and then the blond pulled his friend out of the window, leaving the Godaime opening another mission report and groaning.

'...stupid bloody ninjas...always getting injured...incompetent jackasses...'

* * *

'So, how's it going with the Hyuuga?' Sakura asked, leaping ahead of the blond after he finished his long rant about how the training for his future job as the Rokudaime was being made more and more unglamourous by the day. 'Hinata? You asked her out a few weeks back, didn't you?'

Much to her surprise, the mention of the dark haired girl made an uncharacteristic pink tint appear across his cheekbones.

'Hinata, yeah, well,' he said, trying to pass off his coyness at the girl's name by making his voice gruff. 'She's great, you know. Shy, though. At least she's stopped fainting whenever I get close.'

'That means you finally got to kiss her?'

Naruto's blush deepened. 'Hehehe..I don't want to kiss and tell, Sakura chan.'

Sakura hid her smile as she leaped to another rooftop. She didn't really know much about the Hyuuga, having heard of her described as the clan heiress and Neji Hyuuga's cousin – a fair fighter, forced into the combact group by her father but far too goodhearted and nervous to actually lead in anything more violent than a recce mission. Ino had mentioned that once her younger sister was declared future clan leader, Hinata was allowed to escape into the town's libraries with a sense of emmense relief, becoming a rather detailed historian and emerging from between the confines of her quiet job only for recon missions.

She was vastly different from Naruto's previous crushes (which had included Sakura, for whom he had nursed affection from when they were five and the pink haired girl had kicked him off her swing), mostly because she actually seemed infatuated with the Namikaze. In fact, Sakura had first spoken to the girl when Naruto rushed her in, alarmed because he had gone to ask her for a scroll and she had promptly fainted upon seeing him less than a foot away. A little secret spilling from Tenten, who knew Hinata well because of her cousin, and Sakura casually managed to prod the idea of asking the pale eyed girl out into her best friend's mind.

'When did you two last go out?'

'Before my mission. I got back yesterday, you know. I haven't even seen her yet. I guess I'll go say hello tom – ouch, Sakura chan, that hurt!' Naruto rubbed the back of his head, an injured expression on his face as Sakura rolled her eyes, having smacked him upside the head.

'You're an idiot. You went away for two weeks, have been back for two days now, and haven't gone to see her yet? Oh, you're lucky Hinata san seems to be head over heels for you. If it were any other girl, she'd have kicked your ass from here to the Hokage Mountain.'

'Ne, Sakura chaaan,' Naruto said, drawing out the words, unaffected. 'Hinata's cool. She wouldn't mind at all.'

'Really, now?' Sakura glanced at him, and added slyly, 'Well, yeah, you're right. After all, she has other boys who wouldn't mind a shot at her, anyway.'

Naruto stumbled over a roof tile, catching himself just in time. Sakura let out a short laugh, and he glowered goodnaturedly at her, but she knew her words had hit home judging by how his forehead creased. She could almost hear his mind whirring: _There was a good chance Sakura was joking, but there was always the underlying possibility that she wasn't. She was a girl after all, and they always _knew_. If he asked whether she was joking, she'd laugh at him and poke fun at his insecurities, but if he didn't and it turned out to be true..._

'Er..what time in the morning does the Yamanaka's flower shop open?'

* * *

Returning Naruto's farewell with a wave and a smile, Sakura watched him jump ahead towards his own home. He'd tried getting her to come with him for dinner, and then made her promise that she'd eat a good meal by herself once she declined. She wasn't sure why she didn't just go with him. The former Hokage and his spitfire wife were very fond of her, and she of them, and it was true that she hadn't spent too much time with Naruto recently, owing to her work and his relentless training and missions.

But something told her that she needed to go home.

Looking back, she would think of it as ninja instinct.

Even later, she would call it fate.

Sighing, she unlocked the door to her house and opened the door quietly. Her landlady had her daughter and new born grandson visiting from Iwa, and all the inhabitants of the building had learned quickly that after eight anything louder than a pin dropping led to a loud shreik that would invariably go on all night.

She took her boots off and then walked into the couch, stubbing her toe. Pain shot through her foot, and she paused to let out one of Tsunade's choice swear words under her breath. She realised with a another tinge, this time one of annoyance, this was starting to become a trend, since she kept forgetting to switch on the awkwardly located lights everytime she entered.

Then she heard the distinct sound of someone dropping what sounded suspiciously like a cup from an intricately designed silver tea set the new Kazekage had gifted her for saving his brother from a deadly poison he had been infected with in battle.

That meant one thing.

Someone was in her apartment.

It couldn't be Ino, Sakura knew she had a date with Shikamaru, having lent the blonde her new, completely untouched green dress for the occasion. It couldn't be Naruto, because obviously, she had just seen him leave. Ayako still had to be at the hospital, her shift ended late at night. Those were the only people who had keys to her apartment.

Now quieter than usual, she grit her teeth. She couldn't believe someone had the nerve to come to _her_ apartment to try and rob her. That took a lot of balls.

_That's okay,_ she reminded herself with a small smile as she inched towards her bedroom,_ I can make sure the bastard will never have to worry about being too ballsy._

Peeking in through the ajar door, she saw two dark figures. Straining her ears, she could make out their hushed conversation.

'I'm telling you, I heard something!'

'You're being an ass. I was right here too. There was nothing.'

'I don't know..you made a pretty loud sound when you dropped that cup.'

'For Kami's sake, will you stop being so paranoid? Don't worry, its not even dented.'

'Idiot...' The word was hissed, and Sakura moved back slightly upon seeing a sudden small glint of silver in the dim moonlight issuing through her pale pink curtains.

Alright. So one of them had a kunai. They could have more weapons, and there were two of them – ordinarily not even close to a match for her, but she was tired and her chakra reserves hadn't been completely restored for a few weeks. Maybe she really shouldn't have taken those extra shifts at the hospital. In addition, she didn't have any weapons of her own, save for the emergency set of shuriken strapped to her thigh.

Looking back, Sakura realised the most sensible thing to do would have been to call the police nins.

However, at the time, she simply sneezed.

Three things followed this simultaneously.

The first was that one of the thieves swore and dropped her cup again.

The second was that his partner turned around and brandished the kunai, yelling, 'Stay away!'

The third was that Sakura entered her room, sending chakra to both fists, and said, 'Man, I need to dust the place down.'

As she moved into a fighting stance and deflected the kunai thrown at her, she made a mental note to rethink before speaking potentially badass oneliners.

It didn't take her long to realise that the clumsier of the two was also the worse fighter. She managed to deflect all senbon needles he flung at her in a flailing, clumsy way and get in a good hit by swiping his legs under him and landing a hit on his head that made him slump unconscious. Unfortunately, his partner turned out to be the brains of the duo, and had fled with the bag of her possessions the second her foot had tripped his companion.

She caught the action of him jumping out the open window from the corner of her eye, and swung around to see him land with unnecessary impact in the alley behind her building. Their less than perfect techniques were tell tale signs of Academy drop outs. However...there was something very foreign about the chakra. Something clearly unusual.

Deciding to muse about that puzzling fact later, Sakura grabbed the unconscious thief and swiftly chucked him out the window at his partner. She only lived on the second floor, so the man would only break a bone or two if she missed, which was unlikely. However, with a show of astonishing sensitivity to his environment, the man stepped away from the body flung at him. Despite this, he was a few seconds late, and his companion hit his legs, making him tumble to the ground, dropping the bag over his shoulder.

Sakura grinned. She got him.

She leapt down neatly, just in time to see the man struggle out from under his partner's knocked out body. She frowned. It was admirable that he was still trying not to get caught, but this was getting ridiculous.

'Resistance is futile and all that,' she called out, reaching for her shuriken and fanning them out between her fingers before allowing herself to feel pleased at the kick ass one liner. She threw the shuriken at him as he tried to run with the bag, adding with disapproval, 'You should check out which homes belong to shinobi before trying to make a career as a thief in Konoha.'

The man grunted as the first shuriken caught him in the shoulder, prompting him to drop the bag. Then, he turned around to face Sakura, and with speed and skill she really hadn't been expecting, managed to dodge the rest. Falling back into a fighting stance, she kept her eyes locked on the man, wondering what his next move would be. Judging by how deep the first shuriken had sunk into the man's shoulder, she was sure he wouldn't be able to fight, specially since his movements were already so forced, heavy. She had assumed it was because he was an failed ninja, like his companion undeniably was – but was starting to realise that the man wasn't lacking in skill - simply reluctant to use any. That, combined with his odd, fluctuating chakra meant..

He was unwell.

Involuntarily, her hands fell to her side. Petty thief or not, she was bound by her medic nin oath, and unable to hurt the man any further. Unfortunately for her, her opponent didn't seem to be as generous.

His mask face seem to smooth over, and he brought his hands up to his chest and formed a number of rapid hand seals, too fast for her to follow. Certain he was going to kill her for her second of pity, she threw her hands up in an instictive attempt to ward off whatever he was going to chuck at her.

Only to find a thick screen of smoke appearing and enveloping her like a fishbowl.

Immediately holding her breath, she spun around, trying to find a way out. First she tried to release the justu, if it was a coarse genjutsu, after which she pushed her chakra through to find a weak spot. In all her years of training and healing, she'd never seen a jutsu that would create something so impenetrable. The dust didn't seem to be made of sand, or anything recognisable, and it wasn't reacting with her skin. She allowed herself to take a quick gasp of air, waiting for it to have effect.

Instead, it dispersed as quick as it had surrounded her.

It was a decoy jutsu, she realised, finding herself in the empty alleyway with the unconscious thief. He'd cast it to get away, not to harm. She had smelled something wet and smoky when she had inhaled, so it was a literal smokescreen.

On a purely higher level, it was an excellent move.

On a base level, one where she allowed Inner Sakura to fume, she was annoyed.

Still. It was sheer brilliance too.

She sighed. Musing on how someone could come with a solid jutsu like that would have to be done later. She could see Mrs Lao from three flats above her staring out the window with her phone clutched in her hand, and wasn't surprised as four shadows landed on the rooftop in front of her, the shiny sewn on patch on their shoulders identifying them as police nin.

One of them landed in front of her, the bright moonlight catching on his badge. 'Ma'am, we need to ask you a few questions.'

She nodded, resigned, wondering what Tsunade would say when she found out that sending her student home early had had no effect on the amount of sleep she was going to get.

* * *

'A smokescreen jutsu?' The dark haired police nin repeated for the fourth time.

Sakura gritted her teeth. 'Yes.'

'Of real smoke.'

'Yes.'

'And you're sure about this?' He frowned a little, not as though he thought she was lying, but as though the remark puzzled him.

'I'm the Godaime Hokage's student. If I'm found to be wrong, I usually get sake bottles flung at me. Its not a risk I'm willing to take,' she said wryly.

The policenin's lip twitched, as though he was about to smile, but caught himself in time. 'Very well. Thank you for your time.' He gave her a short bow, and then walked about to the long haired man who appeared to be their captain, bent over the unconscious man. Three of the poilice nins had the red and white fan that was the Uchiha clan symbol on their backs in addition to the smaller ones on their shoulders that were a part of the uniform. That meant their brown haired companion - less handsome and lacking the overlarge Uchiha symbol - was clearly not an Uchiha, and had been relegated to scrape off the small spots of blood that the thief had left behind from the shuriken wound.

He was glowering as he scooped up the slightly sticky red substance into a small tube, but apart from casting the Uchihas malovolent glares, didn't speak up. The Uchiha, after all, were the most proficient police nins, and even Sakura knew of the clan rule that dictated that all of their shinobi were entered into the police before being allowed to pursue their own preferred line of work. It had always sounded like rather a harsh deal, but the three dark haired men surrounding the thief didn't seem to be anything but professional.

'We'll have to wait till he wakes up. He probably has a concussion,' the captain said, getting to his feet, eyes bleeding red with the activated Sharingan as he looked around the alley. He had jumped in front of her with the kekkai genkai already activated, and she had found it dificult to meet his eyes while she explained the reason for the commotion.

She looked at her feet again before calling out to him. 'I'm, er, a medic nin. I could - '

'No, you could not,' he said before she could finish, earning an annoyed scowl from the pink haired girl which deepened as he spoke. 'You've done quite enough for us to be getting on with at the moment.' He nodded at the other two ninjas, who extracted rolls of police tape from the nin-packs and started cordoning the area off.

_Well!_

Sakura huffed as she spun around to walk away, feeling more than a little slighted. She hadn't really expected the notoriously uptight police squad to kiss her feet in thanks, but treating her as though she had been a hindrance, sitting and weeping in one corner – that was just rude. She had singlehandedly knocked out a thief, and wounded another. For an unarmed kunoichi facing two men, it was impressive, although admittedly her skills were much better than the average kunoichi. Just an acknowledgement of her prowess, maybe a quick "Thank you, ma'am" - it wouldn't completely displace the rod up their ass.

'Excuse me ma'am,' a small cough came from behind her, making her stop and turn around, glaring at her chipped green toe nail polish, refusing to dignify the conversation with direct eye contact. 'But I need to verify some information.'

'Ugh!' Sakura's eyes closed in exasperation, and she curled her hand into her hair and gritted her teeth. 'Look, I already gave my statement to the cop before you! When can I go?'

'Right after I finish after this.'

The voice was smooth and a little amused. Without opening her eyes. Sakura could tell this was a different cop, not the kind faced one she had spoken to before or the irritable captain. In resignation, she shifted her weight on to one foot and jutted a hip out, placing one hand on the hip and keeping another under her chin to prop her head up.

'Your name is Haruno Sakura.'

'Yes.'

'You live in apartment 9, SS 4, Kusuri Road.'

'Yes.'

'Your contact number is 1456-2.'

'Yes!' she snapped, her hands now falling to her side and curling into fists.

'You are single.'

'Yes.' Then her eyes flew open in all their apple green confused glory. 'Wait. Wha...?'

The cop in front of her was the youngest of the four, and a good couple inches taller than the previous one. Her indignation paused momentarily to take in the extraordinarily handsome face with dark hair and eyes, his mouth curved into a smirk.

'That's all I need to know,' he said calmly, as Sakura's mouth fell open in an mixture of fury and surprise. 'Thank you for your cooperation.'

He closed the notebook in a manner so languid, completely disregarding that he had just put the moves on a girl – that Sakura found herself unable to say the words rushing into her head.

A stranger – an unfairly good looking stranger, strangely familiar – _an Uchiha_ – had just...kind of expressed interest in her? Why? Was this a joke? She had heard of how completely private and stoic the clan members were. Maybe he thought he was being funny. Or was he being serious? In which case, what kind of crap way was that to try ask her out? _Was_ he trying to ask her out?

He quirked one eyebrow at her, as if waiting for her to say something, as she desperately wanted to, but before she could remember how to speak through her sudden astonishment, a voice called from the group of the police nins.

'Sasuke!'

The cop broke away from her wide eyed gaze to shoot a glare at the owner of the voice, despite the authority in the tone.

'I'm busy, Itachi!'

'I want you to bag this...'

The cop exhaled. 'Che.'

With that, he turned neatly on his heel and began to walk away, his back to her as he raised one hand in farewell.

'Later.'

Sakura blinked. Her voice and wrath returning in a flood, she placed her hands on her hips and stomped one foot immaturely, as though he had just taken her ice cream away.

'W-wait just one minute!' Her voice rang out clearly and her landlady's grandson, who had been unexpectedly quiet through the whole thing, let out a piercing cry. Ignoring it as well as the loud shrieks of frustration from her neighbours, she carried on. 'What the hell was that – HEY! I'm talking to you!'

Her landlady stuck her head out of her window and bellowed, 'WILL YOU KEEP QUIET? WE HAVE SATAN'S SPAWN TO PUT TO BED HERE!'

Her daughter's reproving voice floated out. 'Mother!'

Fuming, Sakura glared at the old woman and leapt back into her apartment.

_...To be continued..._

* * *

- Right, so. You can check out the fanart and all of carrinth's brilliant work on deviantart, and here's the direct link to Verification: art/Sasusaku-Verification-154446003 She's provided a little backstory to her art, but I'm afraid this won't match, although her prequel has hilarious possibilites that I wish I had thought of.

- I'm lazy, and my brain works too much, so this will expand into a two parter (maaaaybe a three parter), because I'm halfway through the story, and I seemed to have built up a lot more on the plot than I orignally intended to. I hope I'm not embarrassing the artist, I honestly admire her a lot.

- This is unbeta'd so feel free to point out mistakes. Review if you like, but don't forget to send carrinth lots of love!


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